VANCOUVER — Dan Hamhuis hasn’t skated since he was injured in Wednesday night’s Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

So while today Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault continued to classify the veteran defenseman as “day-to-day” and a “game-time decision,” one would have to believe he’s a lot more likely to sit out than he is to face the Bruins tonight in Game 2 at Rogers Arena.

While Hamhuis logs more than 24 minutes of ice time a game and is a part of the Canucks’ main shutdown pair, his teammates believe they can survive without him.

“I mean, I think we have a lot of depth on the D,” said blueliner Alex Edler during the Canucks’ morning media availabiltiy. “We’ve been battling through injuries all year. So I think whoever is playing tonight, we know it’s going to be six good players out there, and we’ll be fine.”

The favorites to replace Hamhuis in the lineup are Andrew Alberts and Keith Ballard. Alberts practiced yesterday alongside lineup regular Christian Ehrhoff. Regardless of who the replacement is, Hamhuis’ minutes are going to have to be made up by the other five players.

Ehrhoff doesn’t believe that will have an averse effect.

“Our team was built on a strong and deep defense. We’ve used it all year long with different guys being out at different times,” said the German blueliner. “Yeah, everybody can play with everybody, so it’s not a big adjustment we have to make. Obviously whoever comes in has to step up and play some big minutes. That’s what we’ve done all year.”

True but Vancouver is deeper than the B’s on D. At one time they were down their top three D and still won the Pres. Trophy. B’s should target whoever replaces Hamhuis because that player may have rust.